{"id":18775,"date":"2011-10-10T06:25:09","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T10:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?p=18775"},"modified":"2013-08-29T22:26:07","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T02:26:07","slug":"whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/","title":{"rendered":"‘what’s not wrong?’ and other ways to start your day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by the virtual world we love to wander around in; there were no real breaks and downtime, no time to turn inward, quiet. Every morning, we simply jumped in.<\/p>\n

Then a friend told us that he made a practice of always reading something uplifting or illuminating first thing in the morning – NOT firing up the computer and NOT reading the news, but rather taking the time to read a bit of poetry or a philosophy, something that was more about ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’. We decided to try it, turning to books that we valued but hadn’t looked at for years – Wherever You Go, There You Are<\/a>…\u00a0Neruda’s Garden: An Anthology of Odes<\/a>… reading as we drank a cup of tea in the quiet of the morning.\u00a0It changed everything; the books we read have the effect of centering us for much of the day, while teaching us a new perspective.<\/p>\n

A piece that we return to frequently, and that we find reverberating mightily in our thinking, is by Vietmamese Zen master, poet and peace advocate Thich Nhat Hanh<\/a>. It’s called “What’s Not Wrong”, from his\u00a0book\u00a0Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life<\/a>\"\":<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“We often ask, “What’s wrong?” Doing so, we invite painful seeds of sorrow to come up and manifest. We feel suffering, anger, and depression, and produce more such seeds. We would be much happier if we tried to stay in touch with the healthy, joyful seeds inside of us and around us. We should learn to ask, “What’s not wrong?” and be in touch with that<\/strong>.\u00a0There are so many elements in the world and within our bodies, feelings, perceptions, and consciousness that are wholesome, refreshing, and healing. If we block ourselves, if we stay in the prison of our sorrow, we will not be in touch with these healing elements.<\/em><\/p>\n

Life is filled with many wonders<\/strong>, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. Our breathing, for example, can be very enjoyable. I enjoy breathing every day. But many people appreciate the joy of breathing only when they have asthma or a stuffed-up nose. We don\u2019t need to wait until we asthma to enjoy our breathing. Awareness of the precious elements of happiness is itself the practice of right mindfulness. Elements like these are within us an all around us. In each second of our lives we can enjoy them…<\/em><\/p>\n

We find that asking ourselves “What’s not wrong?” has the effect of instantly shifting our mindset, bringing us right back to a positive view, and softening fear…and from there, opening us up to answers we didn’t expect to the problems at hand.<\/p>\n

Botanical print from Early New Zealand Botanical Art<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts: lynda barry\u2019s \u2018what it is\u2019 (+ being your creative self)
\n<\/a>a book + music (free play + the koln concert)
\n<\/a>the rich rewards of an unplanned day
\n<\/a>steven johnson on cultivating good ideas (daily)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by the virtual world we love to wander around in; there were no real breaks and downtime, no time to turn inward, quiet. Every morning, we simply…<\/p>\nRead More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8361,458,413,31,6549,89,750,8364,1860],"tags":[3115,3118,3117,3116],"yoast_head":"\n'what's not wrong?' and other ways to start your day - Improvised Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'what's not wrong?' and other ways to start your day - Improvised Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Improvised Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theimprovisedlife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-10T10:25:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-08-30T02:26:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Whatd-not-wrong-blueyellow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sally Schneider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@improvised_life\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@improvised_life\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sally Schneider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sally Schneider\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2fa7e3722002ee0c5ff9fde7a0753bc4\"},\"headline\":\"‘what’s not wrong?’ and other ways to start your day\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-10T10:25:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-30T02:26:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\"},\"wordCount\":537,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"attitude shift\",\"daily practices for creative living\",\"quotes for living\",\"Thich Nhat Hanh: What's Not Wrong?\"],\"articleSection\":[\"books + zines\",\"creative process\",\"gifts\",\"inspiring people\",\"mindset\",\"paths + processes\",\"signs + reminders\",\"tools\/wares\",\"wellness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\",\"name\":\"'what's not wrong?' and other ways to start your day - Improvised Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-10T10:25:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-30T02:26:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘what’s not wrong?’ and other ways to start your day\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/\",\"name\":\"Improvised Life\",\"description\":\"a treasury of inspiring ideas\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"IL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Improvised Life\",\"alternateName\":\"IL\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/logo-with-tagline-copy-rasterized-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/logo-with-tagline-copy-rasterized-1.jpg\",\"width\":456,\"height\":104,\"caption\":\"Improvised Life\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theimprovisedlife\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/improvised_life\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/signlaboratory\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/improvisedlife\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2fa7e3722002ee0c5ff9fde7a0753bc4\",\"name\":\"Sally Schneider\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b642ac4c69dbeadf84f5d2d477d9835?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b642ac4c69dbeadf84f5d2d477d9835?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sally Schneider\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/author\/g0llysally\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'what's not wrong?' and other ways to start your day - Improvised Life","description":"For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'what's not wrong?' and other ways to start your day - Improvised Life","og_description":"For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by","og_url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/","og_site_name":"Improvised Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theimprovisedlife","article_published_time":"2011-10-10T10:25:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-08-30T02:26:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":525,"height":525,"url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Whatd-not-wrong-blueyellow.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sally Schneider","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@improvised_life","twitter_site":"@improvised_life","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sally Schneider","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/"},"author":{"name":"Sally Schneider","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2fa7e3722002ee0c5ff9fde7a0753bc4"},"headline":"‘what’s not wrong?’ and other ways to start your day","datePublished":"2011-10-10T10:25:09+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-30T02:26:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/"},"wordCount":537,"commentCount":11,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["attitude shift","daily practices for creative living","quotes for living","Thich Nhat Hanh: What's Not Wrong?"],"articleSection":["books + zines","creative process","gifts","inspiring people","mindset","paths + processes","signs + reminders","tools\/wares","wellness"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/","url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/","name":"'what's not wrong?' and other ways to start your day - Improvised Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-10T10:25:09+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-30T02:26:07+00:00","description":"For a long time, it was our habit to jump out of bed and start working: reading blogs, news, emails, writing. We were, literally, swept away each day by","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/10\/10\/whats-not-wrong-and-other-ways-to-start-your-day\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘what’s not wrong?’ and other ways to start your day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/","name":"Improvised Life","description":"a treasury of inspiring ideas","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization"},"alternateName":"IL","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#organization","name":"Improvised Life","alternateName":"IL","url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/logo-with-tagline-copy-rasterized-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/logo-with-tagline-copy-rasterized-1.jpg","width":456,"height":104,"caption":"Improvised Life"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theimprovisedlife","https:\/\/twitter.com\/improvised_life","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/signlaboratory\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/improvisedlife\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2fa7e3722002ee0c5ff9fde7a0753bc4","name":"Sally Schneider","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b642ac4c69dbeadf84f5d2d477d9835?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b642ac4c69dbeadf84f5d2d477d9835?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Sally Schneider"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/improvisedlife.com"],"url":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/author\/g0llysally\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}